Showing results by narrator "Graham Halstead" in All Categories

On April 21, 2008, Steven "Crash" Crashinsky saved more than a thousand people when he stopped his classmate David Burnett from taking their high school hostage armed with assault weapons and high-powered explosives. You likely already know what came after for Crash: the nationwide notoriety, the college recruitment, and, of course, the book deal. What you might not know is what came before: a story of two teens whose lives have been inextricably linked since grade school, who were destined, some say, to meet that day in the teachers' lounge of Meadows High.

Set in 1985, Junk tells the story of Robert Merkin, resident genius of the upstart investment firm Sacker Lowell. Hailed as "America's Alchemist", his proclamation that "debt is an asset" has propelled him to a dizzying level of success. By orchestrating the takeover of a massive steel manufacturer, Merkin intends to do the "deal of the decade", the one that will rewrite all the rules.

Vigna digs into the show's guts, exploring its roots, storyline, relevance for fans and the wider popular culture, and more. He explores how the changing nature of television and media have contributed to the show's success and goes deep into the zombie genre, delineating why it's different from vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. He considers why people have found in zombies a mirror for their own fears and explains how this connection is important to the show's popularity.

June 1939. Francis Dempsey and his shell-shocked brother Michael are on an ocean liner from Ireland bound for their brother Martin's home in New York City, having stolen a small fortune from the IRA. During the week that follows, the lives of these three brothers collide spectacularly with big-band jazz musicians, a talented but fragile heiress, a Jewish street photographer facing a return to Nazi-occupied Prague, a vengeful mob boss, and the ghosts of their own family's revolutionary past.

Sydney Skate considers himself shockproof. For as long as he can remember, he's known that his fashionable Manhattan mother is secretly a lesbian, although he's never let on that he knows. He spends his summer days caring for snakes at the local pet shop before leaving for college at Cornell, shrugging off his father's demands that he skip college and join the exciting world of swimming pool sales for suburbanites.

In 1998, at the very moment that a publisher had approached Bruce Davidson about a book of his 1959 Brooklyn Gang photographs, former gang leader Bobby Powers unexpectedly telephoned the Davidsons. Over the next decade, Emily Davidson maintained an ongoing conversation with Powers in order to bring to light his struggle to overcome his drug-ridden and violent past and to inspire others with his example.

One evening in South Florida, an author is dozing beside a swimming pool when a stranger interrupts his peace. The newcomer, a self-professed fan and a literary agent of sorts, has a proposal for the author, one that may shape the course of literary history. With just a few thousand words, this charming short story from Ray Bradbury may change the way you look at classic literature forever.

Adrian is small for his age, even for an almost-thirteen-year-old. It doesn't help that he has albinism, which makes those he meets wonder if he's an angel or a devil. His father is a bowyer, and all Adrian wants to do is become apprenticed and go off to war as an archer. But that's not what his father wants for him. Since Adrian can write, his father wants him to be a scribe. That's just about the last thing Adrian wants. When the Scots invade England and Adrian's best friend Hugh runs off to find his father and fight in battles, Adrian soon follows, intent on finding Hugh and joining him in glorious warfare against the pagans invading England from the north.

When Jessica, a young air force drone pilot in Nevada, is tasked with launching a missile against a suspected terrorist halfway across the world, she realizes that though women and children are in the crosshairs of her screen, she has no choice but to follow orders. Ethan, a young Wall Street quant, is involved in a more bloodless connection to war when he develops an algorithm that enables his company's clients to profit by exploiting the international instability caused by exactly this kind of antiterrorist strike.

A man convicted of murdering his wife finds an unlikely champion in this short story by the best-selling author of The Dante Club. Our narrator is a man convicted of first-degree murder with only one person on his side: Ginnifer. After seeing him on TV and becoming obsessed with the case, Ginnifer devotes herself to overturning his sentence. Eventually Ginnifer's friendship turns into something more - but the closer they become, the more the relationship turns into a prison of its own.

It's World War I, and young Glaswegian Dougal Kerr is a new recruit in the British army. Dougal has no family and no past, but his easygoing demeanor belies his cheerless upbringing. There's only one thing that gives Ian Rutledge pause: Dougal is very good at killing, and he doesn't seem to mind it at all - in fact he seems to relish it. In wartime, how does one tell the difference between a remorseless killer and a guid soldier?

Meet Nosewise. He's spunky. He's curious. And he's a dog who can't understand why his packmates Merlin and Morgana spend all day practicing magic tricks. If it's a trick they want, he's the dog to ask! He can already Sit!, Stay!, and Roll Over! But there's no way Nosewise is Stay!ing when his master and best friend, Merlin, is kidnapped. There's nothing Nosewise won't do to get Merlin back, even if it means facing the strange Fae people and their magic-eating worms or tangling with the mysterious Sword in the Stone.

A beguiling story of an adventurous traveler, from the Edgar Award-winning author of the best-selling Deputy Charlie Hood series. Fresh out of college, a young man is hired by a high-end travel agency. His fears that he might be in over his head prove to be well-founded when he is dispatched to a potential new destination, Playa Amazonia. Twenty hours of traveling leads him to a luxurious hotel, the world's most beautiful beach - and an encounter with a highly unusual invasive species.

Their friendship started with a schoolyard tussle. Now the need for revenge is what binds Luke Croft and Red Connover together. When Luke taught himself how to fire a Colt, he never imagined he'd turn into a gunman. But when his stepfather's dodgy business dealings turn his life upside down, Luke asks Red to help him destroy the man who murdered his kin. The road to vengeance is long and hard, and the two friends who are barely out of boyhood will need all the help they can get if they want to catch a cold-blooded killer.

A novelette about a nihilistic young man from New York City, Going Down South depicts an isolated and apathetic way of navigating life and romance in a way that will resonate with most Millennials. When Jared Steinfarb decides that his life in Brooklyn has grown too dissolute, he moves in with an old friend from college who is studying to be a minister in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he meets Sylvia, an earnest Christian girl from the Midwest — she becomes an opportunity for his depravity to reach new depths, as Jared finds that his lecherous nature has followed him down south.

Four future Navy officers, two women and two men, fall under the spell of charismatic leader James Drayton at Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. They form a secret society called the Great Lovers, named after a poem by Rupert Brooke. When Drayton dies in a suspicious explosion on an aircraft carrier, the Great Lovers become the chief suspects. The surviving members of the secret society must defend their friend and their own freedom in a court-martial for mutiny. Trial of Honor is a fast-paced naval thriller about honor, both personal and national.

James Salley is turning 16, and it's not going well. His family's too busy to care, the local bully creates new tortures daily, someone appears to be following him, and he's just learned that he's the Antichrist. All James ever wanted out of life was for Dorian Delaney - the operatically trained and suicidal girl of his dreams - to fall as in love with him as he is with her. But once he's told of his bloody destiny, he finds himself fighting between who he thought he was and who he's supposed to be.

With his girlfriend, Robin, away in Canada, 18-year-old Lucas Baker's only plans for the summer are to mellow out with his friends, smoke weed, drop a tab or two, and head out in his microbus for a three-day happening called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. But life veers dramatically off track when he suddenly finds himself in danger of being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam.

The following books are included...Children of the Streets and Memos from Purgatory.

With the final battle looming, the fate of humanity will be decided. Alex Keener and Elekim will face down Askala, the dark Radaskim Xenomind. But as Askala unleashes her final fury, the road to Ragnarok can only be paved with grit...and lives. In this explosive conclusion to the Wasteland Chronicles series, Alex will rise to the mantle as Elekim...but will it be enough to defeat Askala?